


Sparks that keep a fire glowing

by torches



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-02
Updated: 2005-12-02
Packaged: 2017-10-09 16:29:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torches/pseuds/torches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce remembers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sparks that keep a fire glowing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Petra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Petra/gifts), [saintofbeasts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintofbeasts/gifts).



> An old story. I probably fucked up the timeline, but I don't think I really give a damn any more. I blame this story on Mary.
> 
> This story is for Paige, for a very good reason that both of us have probably forgotten, and Petra, for getting me hooked the third time around.

The first Christmas Bruce cares to remember is a memory of snow soft as eiderdown, a crackling fire, and his mother's special hot chocolate. He got a train set, and a toy pistol.

The next Christmas Bruce honestly remembers, the Manor is too big. He goes outside and lies in the snow till the cold burns the tips of his ears. When he comes in, Alfred hands him a mug of dark black something that turns out to have just the right amount of chocolate.

He spends a long period with no time for Christmas.

The next Christmas he can remember he spends taking down the Joker. It is the first time he remembers a criminal being sentenced to Arkham Asylum. It is not the last.

Two Christmases later, the Manor is less empty, even when the boy is outside in the snow. When the boy - Dick. His name is Dick. - comes in, Alfred has a cup of cocoa waiting for him. Bruce and - "My name is Robin." - Dick share a cup of cocoa, quietly. The fire crackles, and before all the logs turn to ash, only Alfred remains in the Manor to tend the flames.

The Christmases blur together, after a while, heat and joy and the slow filling of a hole he didn't know - "Christmas should be for children." - he had smudging the memory's edges. He bought Dick lots of expensive, unimportant things, and later, in the night, he would watch Robin crouch on a rooftop, feet balanced precariously on the edge, an impossible feat for anyone but Dick, cheeks rosy and eyes bright behind the mask, and he would smile. Christmas was always bright. The Manor was filled with - "Is he adopted?" - family again. Close enough.

Then things became hard, and there was Jason, eyes wide at the opulence, the mug of cocoa clutched tight like a shield. He couldn't stop touching the furniture. He was loud, and crass, and he filled up the Manor with his energy and vitality and Bruce almost didn't have to think about - Dick. No, Robin. - Nightwing being - "Who are you trying to protect, Bruce? Really?" - gone. He gets Jason a baseball bat, so they can do things together. Alfred sighs when the bat inevitably becomes the murder weapon for a Han-era vase Bruce's father had once purchased. "It's the thought that counts, Master Bruce. Though I wish you would have given it a little bit _more_ thought in this case."

After - after, the Manor feels even emptier than Bruce could ever have imagined, even in the days following his parents' funeral.

There are always the nights, and the feel of the wind against the armor and the slick sheath of his costume, cape pooled out behind him. Bruce Wayne always donates $1 million to charity every year, without fail.

The Christmas of Tim's first year as - "It's like - something you have to go through isn't it? Otherwise you can't _do_ the job right, or something." (Bruce will always remember the sound of his voice as it cracks.) - Robin, Alfred makes them pancakes, and they pretend not to pick at their food so carefully even they are surprised when it is finally, magically, gone. Bruce buys Tim a new computer that year.

Tim finds a baseball bat in the attic, that year. When Bruce looks at the suit in the case, Tim's mouth makes a small _oh_ sound and Bruce later discovers the wooden toy under Tim's bed, after an especially nasty nightmare. He doesn't say anything.

Not much later, he invites Dick to Christmas once more (though he wonders if Dick had ever truly been uninvited). Over the traditional cup of cocoa, Bruce pretends not to notice the shy, happy looks Tim keeps shooting Dick's way. He wonders if Dick notices. Dick even laughs at Bruce's jokes.

Dick glances Bruce's way, once that night, and Bruce - does not know anything else he can do except smile.


End file.
